On AD 2008 January 20 Sunday 04:43:00 PM -0700, Levi Pearson wrote:
> Religion and principles are often tied together, since religion is a
Yes, often, perhaps but there are many things to be principled about
that aren't religious. I don't understand why you wish to construe this
as religious.
> You may call it a principle based on reason, but I suspect that it is
> in fact a principle based on taking the edicts of the Free Software
> Foundation on faith, making it essentially religious in nature. The
> whole good vs. evil dichotomy that the Free Software Foundation sets
> up certainly smacks of religion to me, as does the attitude Free
> Software adherents tend to have towards commercial, non-Free software.
PLUG is ostensibly about Linux and Free Software. Perhaps the FSF has
become passé and it is popular to disparage them. I know you wouldn't
necessarily do that without good reason, but neither do I believe
blindly in the edicts of the FSF. I presume you are familiar with the
benefits of using/practicing OSS, so I don't understand why you would be
critical of me in using it exclusively. My reasons are partly
idealistic, experimental, curious, and practical. I believe that
software as OSS is necessarily better for the world, so I've made it the
staple of mine. Since OSS is developed in the open I am better able to
learn about/with it than its proprietary counterparts. The freedom to
copy, study, and modify it is an excellent benefit that proprietary SW
by definition cannot offer. Besides that I can get all the OSS I need
without price. That is the substance of my principle and I fail to know
how this elicits your condescension.
Justin